1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hot and cold water dispenser, and more particularly, to a hot and cold water dispenser, which includes a feed pipe, a temperature control pipe formed integrally with the feed pipe to directly carry out heat exchange, and a cooling pipe disposed at the central portion of a cold water tank, thereby enhancing cooling efficiency or heating efficiency and effectively utilizing an installation space.
2. Background Art
In general, apparatuses for providing cold water or hot water are commonly called hot and cold water dispensers. Such hot and cold water dispensers may be divided in various ways according to their capacities or use conditions, but are equal in structure that they cool water using refrigerant and heat water using a heater to provide cold water or hot water necessary for daily life. Recently, as standards of living improve and technologies develop hot and cold water dispensers are being used not only in enterprises and government offices but also in houses.
A hot and cold water dispenser according to a prior art has a structure that a cooling pipe is wound on the outer circumference of a cylindrical cold water tank to cool the cold water tank. As an instance, Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-0437839 discloses a hot and cold water dispenser.
In Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-0437839, the hot and cold water dispenser includes a cooling pipe 12 spirally wound on the outer circumference of a cold water tank 11 several times. The hot and cold water dispenser according to the prior art has advantages in that a contact area between the cooling pipe 12 and the cold water tank 11 can be controlled by adjusting the length of the cooling pipe (the wound number of the cooling pipe) wound around the cold water tank, in that it can enhance a cooling efficiency by maximizing the contact area, and in that it is easy to install.
Moreover, the hot and cold water dispenser of the prior art includes a hot water tank having a heater therein, wherein the heater that generates heat by external power heats water introduced into the hot water tank.
However, the cold water tank of the prior art deteriorates the cooling efficiency because one side of the cooling pipe is in contact with the outer circumference of the cold water tank and the other side is exposed to the outside. Of course, because a heat insulator is disposed on the outer face of the cooling pipe, it can prevent that the cooling efficiency is deteriorated greatly, but some loss is inevitable. Furthermore, because the cooling pipe is disposed on the outer circumference of the cold water tank and the heat insulator is disposed on the cooling pipe to prevent deterioration of the cooling efficiency, the volume of the cold water tank increases. Additionally, because the cooling pipe is disposed on the outer circumference of the cold water tank, it may be directly exposed to the external shock during the manufacturing process or the installation process.